Monday, April 16, 2007

Wicked Weather

Did anyone hear about the tornadoes in the DFW area over the weekend? We were right there - as in RIGHT THERE. It's as close to being in or around a tornado as I've ever been. And since I have this strange, perverse desire to be in a tornado, it was way cool.A few of the girls and parents went to the mall in Richardson during a rare break from the tournament. While shopping we hear there's a tornado warning for Richardson and that we really shouldn't consider leaving the mall anytime soon. So we're standing on the lower level, meaning the underground level, outside of Macy's and at the base of some escalators when we hear a loud crash, glass breaking, and then a gust of wind hits us in the LOWER LEVEL. The lights flickered off and the escalators shut down. I was standing under this large atrium tree when the wind swooped down and blew leaves off the tree in my face. At that point, all of us standing around immediately fled to a nearby Foot Locker. It was so funny. The looks on our faces had to be hilarious.Afterwards when we were brave enough to venture back up to the upper level, we got the scoop from some Macy's employees. The entrance doors to their lingerie department violently blew open, and panties were sucked out of the doors and bras were swinging wildly on the racks! Their actual words - "there were wet panties everywhere." Hmmm. That wind, or maybe the effects of a funnel cloud above the mall (I'm guessing here), was strong enough to blow all the way through the store out to the Macy's mall entrance, down to the lower level where we stood. There might also have been a draft caused by the actual mall entrance doors opening as well around the same time. Cool, huh?